Testing and qualification On 16 December 2021, CE20 (E9 engine) was tested to demonstrate the redundancy of engine ignition capability as part of human rating LVM3. Two ignition trial tests of 3.2 seconds duration were conducted nominally followed by a nominal hot test of 50 seconds duration. On 12 January 2022, CE-20 engine E9 completed 720 second long qualification test for Gaganyaan programme. On 9 November 2022, CE-20 engine E9 was hot tested for 70 seconds. During this test the engine operated at thrust level of approximately 20 tonnes for the first 40 seconds and then switched to an uprated thrust regime of 21.8 tonnes lasting ~30 seconds. Notable missions X (Suborbital flight test) The maiden flight of the GSLV Mk III lifted off from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center on 18 December 2014 at 04:00 UTC. The test had functional boosters, a core stage but carried dummy upper stage. It also carried the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) that was tested on re-entry. Just over five minutes into the flight, the rocket ejected CARE at an altitude of , which then descended, controlled by its onboard reaction control system. During the test, CARE's heat shield experienced a peak temperature of around . ISRO downlinked launch telemetry during the ballistic coasting phase until the radio black-out to avoid data loss in the event of a failure. At an altitude of around , the module's apex cover separated and the parachutes were deployed. CARE splashed down in the Bay of Bengal near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and was recovered successfully. D1 (GSAT-19) The first orbital flight of the GSLV Mk III occurred on 5 June 2017, lifting off from the Second Launch Pad at 11:58 UTC. The vehicle carried the GSAT-19 communication satellite, making it the heaviest Indian rocket and payload ever launched. The satellite was successfully placed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) at . The flight also tested upgrades to the design from data acquired during the suborbital test flight. M1 (Chandrayaan-2) The first operational flight occurred on 22 July 2019, lifting off from the Second Launch pad at 9:13 UTC. The rocket carried Chandrayaan-2, India's second mission to the Moon, consisting of an orbiter, lander and a rover. The Chandrayaan-2 stack is the heaviest spacecraft launched by ISRO. M2 (36 OneWeb satellites) This was the first commercial launch of GSLV Mk